


Lifetime Achievement Award

by knifepyjamas



Category: Dungeons & Dragons (Roleplaying Game), The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Lich! Lucas, M/M, Necromancy, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, basically that's all there is to tag rn i think?, def will have a lot more when this updates
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-10
Updated: 2019-09-10
Packaged: 2020-10-14 07:07:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,101
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20596724
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/knifepyjamas/pseuds/knifepyjamas
Summary: After waking up disoriented in a place he doesn't recognize, Magnus is confronted with the fact of his own death. Now, he has to navigate his life while avoiding suspicion about his seven-month-long disappearance, escaping from his reaper friends, and a complicated relationship with his dead frienemy and literal life-saver. Named after the song "Lifetime Achievement Award" by Lemon Demon.





	Lifetime Achievement Award

When Magnus woke he wasn’t feeling particularly great. In fact, he’d say he was feeling pretty damn bad. He was disoriented, barely able to perceive anything about the room he was in except for the fact that it looked like a normal bedroom, aside from being unnaturally clean and, unnervingly, reeking of blood. His entire body ached to the core, and he would boldly claim that his current headache was the worst he’s ever had. Where was he? How did he get here? Maybe, hopefully, Taako and Merle were nearby and could help him.

Despite his pain, he forced himself to sit up. The moment he did, a light next to the bed he was in began to flash. He stared at it in numb confusion for a second before realizing that’s probably not a good thing. Although, nothing seemed to be happening. The light kept flashing and he kept watching. Then it registered.

Morse code. It had been a while since he needed to use it- the last time being the revolution- but he still knew it by heart. His breath was locked inside his chest as he interpreted the message. A-W-A-K-E. Awake-? Why- none of this made sense. Why would there need to be a coded light in the room he was to say he was awake. He was alone, it-

Magnus startled as he glanced to the side and noticed that he was in fact, not alone. A short, translucent figure stood at his bedside- well, floated by his bedside, rather. They were hovering a few inches of the ground, their demeanor… awkward? Nervous? Usually, Magnus could read someone easily, rustic hospitality and all that, but he mainly used their face for that. The only thing he could draw from this being’s face was that it was creepy as hell. Through their skin, he could see a skull. Normally not a big deal from someone who’s friends with multiple liches, but their’s had a large crack through its middle, from the scalp to the bottom of their upper jaw. 

Even more upsetting was their eyes. Both Barry and Lup’s lich forms had no eyes or eyelids, which sounds creepier than it is, but really just made their skulls’ eye sockets seem like their eyes. In them were glows that acted as pupils. This creature, however, did have eyes. Like their skin, they were translucent, but still visible in the skull’s socket. The eyes themselves were bloodshot and completely white. No pupil, no iris. Somehow, though, Magnus could tell they were staring right at him.

For some reason, they seemed familiar. Maybe one of those classic magical “you’re connected to this being somehow” things. He still attempted to focus on their skin to make out their more humanoid features. They had tan skin and long, curly brown- or dirty blonde- hair. It was hard to see properly. There was a gap between their teeth, something you don’t really think about seeing on skulls, and he thought he could make out freckles on the bridge of their phantom nose. Across their face was a scar, following the path of the crack on their skull. There was also what appeared to be another scar slightly left of the big one. A scar that he was sure he’s seen before. A scar that unmistakably from a ghost-filled robot induced head wound. 

The specter was none other than Lucas Miller. 

Magnus stared at the man’s spectral form, an expression of shock no doubt plastered on his face. What… what had happened? The last thing he remembered was being in a battle. The three of them, him, Taako, and Merle, were facing off against the newest threat to Faerun- a rambunctious organization of wild magic sorcerers. He had been pretty badly injured, and an attack from one of the members had knocked him out. Lucas had been the one studying the group, and when Lucretia sent them out to deal with them, he had stayed behind at the Bureau to observe. There’s no way anything could’ve happened to him, right? Unless once he was unconcious he came to help? But they were magic users, and Lucas’s skull appeared to have been cracked by a damn hard axe blow.

Then… what had happened? Why was he here as some phantom? Why was Magnus here? He took another look around the bedroom. It still just resembled a normal bedroom. The strangest things were the machine next to him, which was still blinking out “AWAKE”, and the complete lack of decoration in the room. Blank beige walls, clear surfaces, empty containers. Those and, again, the overwhelming stench of blood. 

He looked down to make sure he wasn’t bleeding, only to realize, he wasn’t, but he was very much naked. Thankfully, the bed’s blanket and sheets were pulled over him, covering everything below his waist. The bedding, like the rest of the room, was bland. A tawny coloured crochet blanket and a single white sheet. 

_“Uhh, sorry? Um, about, uh, that. It’s. I didn’t, I mean I. It was part of the process of, uh, and I didn’t mean to make you like, uncomfortable or any, um, anything. I-”_

The voice sent a cool shiver down Magnus’s spine. It was the same stutter and nasally tone that he was accustomed to but _broken_. The sound of Lucas’s voice but shattered. A crack reverberating somewhere empty. Uneased, he turned to look at Lucas.

“Listen, Lucas-” he was trying to sound nonchalant and not succeeding at it very well- “If there’s one thing I gained from my time on the Starblaster, it’s the ability to not give a shit about people seeing me naked.”

There was no laughter in response to his joke. He couldn’t make out Lucas’s expression at all, so he was unable to tell if he found it even slightly amusing. Not too unusual, he guessed. Lucas had always been hard to read, even when his face was clearly visible. 

They both stayed silent for a bit. Magnus didn’t know what to say. Well, he did, but he didn’t know how to say it. He wanted to know what had happened to Lucas, why they were here, what process involved him needing to be naked, and much, much more. But how do you say these things? There’s a possibility that even Lucas doesn’t know. However, he couldn’t just sit and wait for all his questions to be answered.

“Lucas… what, what happened to you?”

Despite not being able to see his skin too well, he could tell Lucas actually _grinned_.

_“Oh! Same as you Magnus. I died.”_


End file.
